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University of Sussex to award honorary degree to NASA scientist NASA scientist and Sussex alumna Dr Chryssa Kouveliotou, one of the world's leading authorities on gamma-ray bursts, will receive an honorary degree from the University of Sussex today (Thursday 10 July).

UK technology that can create thermal maps of asteroids, giving us vital information about how their trajectories might change, is about to undergo trials in space.

Sussex physicist named among the most influential scientific minds An academic from the University of Sussex has been named on a prestigious research institute's list of the world's most influential scientific minds.

Long-held mystery surrounding the evolution of galaxies solved by academics at the University of Sheffield Findings deepen our understanding of the future of our own galaxy, which will collide with Andromeda in 5 billion years New research by academics at the University of Sheffield has solved a long-standing mystery surrounding the evolution of galaxies, deepening our understanding of the future of the Milky Way.

Press release issued: 1 July 2014 From singing crickets to ultrasonic levitation, University of Bristol academics will be showcasing their research at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition this year.

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A team of astronomers have created the first standardised set of measurement guidelines for analysing and cataloguing stars. This is the first attempt to cover a wide range of stellar classifications, and do everything from the beginning - methodically and homogenously Paula Jofre Previously, as with the longitude problem 300 years earlier for fixing locations on Earth, there was no unified system of reference for calibrating the heavens.

23 Jun 2014 Manchester astronomers will be among those discussing the case for UK involvement in the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope project (LSST) today (Monday) at the National Astronomy Meeting in Portsmouth.

The bright core of a spiral galaxy has unexpectedly dimmed, according to a new study by an international team of astronomers. The nucleus of galaxy NGC 5548, which contains a region of powerful X-ray light surrounding the galaxy's central black hole, has been obscured by a fast-flowing stream of gas.

Cambridge's COSMOS supercomputer, the largest shared-memory computer in Europe, has been named by computer giant Intel as one of its Parallel Computing Centres, building on a long-standing collaboration between Intel and the University of Cambridge. These are exciting times for cosmology as we use COSMOS to directly test our mathematical theories against the latest observational data Stephen Hawking The COSMOS facility, which is located in the Stephen Hawking Centre for Theoretical Cosmology (CTC) at the University, is dedicated to research in cosmology, astrophysics and particle physics.

Laser beams 60,000 billion times more powerful than a laser pointer have been used to recreate scaled supernova explosions in the laboratory as a way of investigating one of the most energetic events in the Universe. Supernova explosions, triggered when the fuel within a star reignites or its core collapses, launch a detonation shock wave that sweeps through a few light years of space from the exploding star in just a few hundred years.

A 600-year-old astronomical document is now moving into the modern era, with a symposium at the Whipple Museum tomorrow (Wednesday 28 May) to mark its digitisation.

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How about a dash of volcanology with your real ale? Or even a splash of Higgs Boson with a glass of wine? That is exactly what a group of young scientists at the University of Glasgow are offering in an innovative public science festival next week.

A scientist who has showcased the delicate beauty of plankton through film and photography has now turned to fashion for his latest project with a little help from Paul Smith.

Astronomers have created the first realistic virtual simulation of the Universe, tracking 13 billion years of cosmic evolution. Until now, no single simulation was able to reproduce the Universe on both large and small scales simultaneously Dr Mark Vogelsberger A newly-developed computer simulation has created the first realistic version of the Universe, enabling researchers to understand how galaxies, black holes and other cosmic phenomena evolved from early in the Universe's development up to the present day.

Researchers from the Universities of Leeds and Edinburgh studying the Amazon Basin have revealed unprecedented detail of the size, age and species of trees across the region by comparing satellite maps with hundreds of field plots. The findings will enable researchers to assess more accurately the amount of carbon each tree can store.

16 Apr 2014 The University of Manchester has been awarded more than £6 million towards its part in the design work for the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope.

Disturbances in the icy rings of Saturn have given scientists an insight into how moons are made. Writing in the journal Icarus this week, Professor Carl Murray from Queen Mary's Astronomy Unit reports that recently discovered disturbances at the very edge of Saturn's outer bright A ring result from a small icy object that formed within the ring and which may be in the process of migrating out of it.

In a remote semi-desert region of South Africa, the Karoo veld, what looks like a huge satellite dish has risen up to dominate the landscape.

Video of magnetic field lines "slipping reconnection" bring scientists a step closer to predicting when and where large flares will occur. Human civilisation is nowadays maintained by technology and that technology is vulnerable to space weather. Dr Jaroslav Dudik Scientists have for the first time witnessed the mechanism behind explosive energy releases in the Sun's atmosphere, confirming new theories about how solar flares are created.

A Cambridge-led outreach project is connecting over 2,200 pupils with the excitement of ESA's Gaia mission through a Q&A session that will take place tomorrow with the discussion streamed live to schools throughout Europe.

Feathers, claws and slimy scales were all on show at Thursday night's Fringe event exploring species past and present, on earth and beyond.

Professor David Price, Vice-Provost for Research at UCL, has written an open letter to Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, to raise concerns about an article commenting on the race and gender of UCL academics appearing on Newsnight. The contents of this letter are reproduced in full below. Dear Mr Dacre, I am writing to express my deep disappointment in the insinuation in your newspaper that Dr Hiranya Peiris was selected to discuss the 'Big Bang' breakthrough on Newsnight for anything other than her expertise.

Latest research has uncovered a massive clump of carbon monoxide in a young solar system. The gas is the result of near constant collisions of icy comets - suggesting vast swarms of tightly packed comets in thrall to the gravitational pull of an as-yet-unseen exoplanet. We think the Beta Pictoris comet swarms formed when the hypothetical planet migrated outward Mark Wyatt Astronomers exploring the disk of debris around the young star Beta Pictoris have discovered a compact cloud of carbon monoxide located about 8 billion miles (13 billion kilometers) from the star.

A new centre will enable Oxford University scientists to play a leading role in the next generation of international sky surveys probing fundamental questions about our Universe.

13 Feb 2014 We're looking for all the budding Astronettes, Star-lettes and Cosmic Girls to come and join us for our Girls Night Out (under the stars) The evening is an opportunity for women and girls of all ages to come and have fun with astronomy and learn more about the night sky.

'Glamorous' images of the dancing lights around Saturn have been captured in greater detail than ever before, thanks to two NASA spacecraft.

Scottish space research has been given a major boost with the announcement of £4m in support for projects on solar flares and the exploration of Mars.

PA 19/14 The University of Nottingham's School of Physics and Astronomy has been awarded Juno Champion status by the Institute of Physics (IOP) for taking action to address gender inequities across its student and staff body.

20 Jan 2014 The award-winning Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre looks set to expand thanks to a £250,000 donation by the Wolfson Foundation.

If you struggled to get out of bed this morning, spare a thought for the Rosetta spacecraft, due to wake today after 31 months hibernating in space.

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09 Jan 2014 A University of Manchester post-graduate cancer research student is hoping to land a place on the first manned-mission to Mars after being shortlisted from a list of 202,000 applicants.

A space mission to create the largest, most-accurate, map of the Milky Way in three dimensions has been launched today. Astronomers say the data gathered by the satellite will "revolutionise" our understanding of the galaxy and the universe beyond. We will go beyond what we can see to understand reality.

On Thursday 19 December at 09:12 GMT, a satellite designed to unlock the secrets of the birth and evolution of the Milky Way Galaxy will be launched by the the European Space Agency.

Although invisible, the magnetic field and electric currents in and around Earth generate complex forces that have immeasurable impact on everyday life A scientist from the University of Liverpool wil

The youngest pair of stars to emerge from a supernova, dancing around each other as the neutron star cannibalises its partner, have been identified by an international collaboration involving Professor Rob Fender of Oxford University.

During the last ice age Scotland, like much of northern Europe, was covered with ice. The weight of this huge compacted ice sheet pushed the Earth's crust down, causing the land levels to sink. Over the 14,000 years since the ice sheet melted, Scotland has been rising an average rate of 1-2mm per year.

Scottish scientists will be at the heart of a completely new type of space mission that will detect the ripples in space time caused by some of the most violent events in the Universe. The Science Programme Committee of the European Space Agency (ESA) announced today that one of their next two Large (L-class) missions will be to probe the 'Gravitational Universe' by establishing a gravitational wave observatory in space.

A new space mission that will study the universe in a completely new way will be launched by the European Space Agency in 2034.

On 20 December 2013, Europe's billion-star surveyor is due to be launched into space where it will embark on its mission to create a highly accurate 3D map of our galaxy.